The use of electronic drop safes in applications in which cash is a significant payment media results in increased security for cashiers and store managers, as well as, reducing the risk of robbery or theft of the cash stored in such safes. There are a number of products on the market, such as the Ellenby Technologies, Inc. CashTrak Electronic Safe™. Although this class of safe is not considered a security safe since there are openings in the unit to allow access to currency or bills, it is effective in securing both the currency and the employees handling currency in attended locations. Such an electronic safe typically uses an electronic bill acceptor which accepts currency and stacks the currency inside the safe. The safe's electronic controller keeps track of the amount of currency deposited, who deposited the currency, and when it was deposited. In addition to the security provided by these products, the cost is also justified by the management time saved, as money does not have to be sorted and counted by the manager. The electronic safe provides the reporting required to give the manager all the information required. Many of these safes are tied to a back room system or point of sale (POS) system and the information is directly transferred to the counting room, bank, or company headquarters as required by the particular application.
A more detailed understanding of the operation of one such electronic safe can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/960,595 filed Sep. 21, 2001 and assigned to the assignee of the current invention which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
One of the advantages of this class of electronic drop safe is its small size. Their small size allows them to be distributed or placed so that each cashier or POS system in a facility has one nearby. It is likely therefore for several of these safes to be located in a facility. A significant disadvantage of these safes is that in the event of a failure or bill jam, the electronic safe is out of service and cashiers either have to use another safe thus slowing down the time to complete a transaction or worse, a cashier may be forced to leave excess cash in the cash drawer. Of course, such a nonsecure buildup of cash, defeats the purpose of the electronic safe.
Adding to the problem is that unless the facility has the technical expertise to service the safe, an outside service provider has to be contacted to repair or replace the defective component. In many cases, the problem is centered on the bill acceptor as it has the only moving parts and suffers from wear. The high volume of bills many of these electronic safes receive will result in expected wear and tear issues, and preventive maintenance may typically be expected in six months to a year.
Even if repair or replacement can be done by the staff on premises, the current generation of electronic safes requires the safe to be opened to provide access to the bill acceptor and other electronic components that may be internal to the safe. This present arrangement has several problems. First, opening the safe door allows access to the cash. At the very least, the service person will have to wait to have a manager present to insure the money remains secure. Second, in many cases, just opening the door signals the electronic controller of the safe that a “collection” is being made. That is, that the money is being collected. In order to maintain the integrity of the system, the money will have to be collected in actuality at this time even if it is not a scheduled collection time. Such unscheduled collections result in cash sitting in the manager's office, or being put in another safe on the premises. If an armored carrier service is used and is responsible for collecting and counting all the cash, that service may have to be called to make an unscheduled and expensive pickup. Alternatively, the service person will have to schedule his or her service visit to coincide with availability of the appropriate manager, to coincide with a pickup of an armored carrier service, or the like, to have access to the safe for cash collection.
There are also other disadvantages of the current typical approach. These include the typical requirement that the keeper of the safe key be present when a service person arrives. The control of keys of course is critical to the security and accountability of the system. Even if an electronic lock is used and a code is used to access the safe, the keeper of the code is required to be present. Usually, this person is a manager or the collection service. Many retail operations require service to their equipment in a timely manner. Equipment going out of service impacts their business. It is not uncommon for a service company to have to respond within a day and in as little time as four hours. The current service issues as described above makes such rapid response difficult or even impossible. If the manager or collection service must also be present for a service person to have access to the safe, the available time for service is usually limited to the working or available hours of the manager or collection service. Typically, this period is during normal daytime working hours. Unfortunately, this period is also when these retail outlets are busiest. Such daytime access to the electronic safes by service persons disrupts normal business operation.
In addition to forcing access to the currency and the resulting complications as discussed above, most of the electronic safes manufactured today require tools to disassemble the bill acceptor from the safe and therefore it takes some time to complete a service call at the safe.
As discussed above, the security of current electronic safes is limited by the requirement that the bills are fed through an opening in the safe. In the event a thief wants access, this opening is the obvious place to attempt to gain access. Even if not successful, destroying the bill acceptor in an attempt to gain access results in a costly repair. The bill acceptor is the most costly component in the electronic safe. Peripheral damage to the safe box and other components adds to the cost of the repair.